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With golden adz and silver saw
I climb a mountain high,
up where the best trees grow.

To cut boughs of laurel and apple and orange
my lyre and silver bow to carve,
and to sing as I know how.
The girls dance so well and with them my beloved,
my beloved who wants no more of me.
What is it, maid, that you don’t like,
why is it you would leave me?
I’m the finest craftsman in the land,
no builder is my match.
’Tis I that build the finest houses,
the workshops in the city,
Saint Sophia’s church, and Saint Marina’s, too.

Translated by Michael Eleftheriou

Θ’ ανέβω σε ψηλό βουνό

Παίρνω το χρυσοσκέπαρο και τ’ αργυρόν πριόνι, και τ’ αργυρόν πριόνι
ν’ ανέβω σε ψηλό βουνό και σ’ έμορφο βαλκάνι1, και σ’ έμορφο βαλκάνι.

Να κόψω δάφνες και μηλιές και μια νεραντζουπούλα,
να φτιάξω τη λυρίτσα μου και τ’ αργυρόν δοξάρι.
Για να λαλώ πουλύ καλά, χουρεύουν τα κουρίτσια,
χουρεύ’ κι μέν’ καλούδα μου, που θέλ’ να μι χουρίσει.
Στο τι κόρη μ’ δε μ’ άρισις κι θέλ’ς να μι χουρίσεις;
Γω είμ’ ι πρώτους μάστορας κι ι πρώτους ου ντουλγκέρης2.
Φτιάνω τα σπίτια τα ψηλά, της πόλης τ’ αργαστήρια,
φτιάνω και την Αγια-Σοφιά και την Αγια-Μαρίνα.

1βαλκάνι: δασωμένο ψηλό βουνό
2ντουλγκέρης: χτίστης

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Notes

A song about a craftsman! Its hero is a master builder who, along with Aghia Sophia, also makes his own lyre to which the girls can dance. It is one of very few songs that provide descriptions of the making of musical instruments. Miranda Terzopoulou (2007)

Recording information

Studio recording, 2005.

Domna Samiou taped the song in Ambelakia, Orestiada, Evros sung by the priest Panagiotis Nikidis, in 1976.

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